Railroad-crossing



(Mew E. PONTAINE.

RAILROAD CROSSING. No. 327,670. Patented Oct. 6, 1885,

N. Pcrms. Phnto-Lilhagrzphur, Wnhinghan, n. a

UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

EUGENE FONTAINE, OF TOLEDO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO \VILLIAM A. KETTENRING, OF DEFIANOE, OHIO.

RAILROAD-CROSSING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 327,670, dated Gctober 6, 1885.

Application filed June 95, 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EUGENE FONTAINE, of Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Crossings; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the construction of railwaycrossings of that class where one railway crosses another on agrade common to both and at any necessary angle.

As such crossings are usually made there is a great noise and much jarring, causing annoyance to the passengers, danger of dcrailing, and frequent breaking of wheels, and many other accidents are the consequent results of the faulty construction now in ordinary use.

The object of this invention is to so construct such a crossing that all these difficulties are avoided, and in effect a continuous rail is presented to the passing train.

The invention consists in the peculiar c011- struction of the various parts, and their combination and operation, whereby the desired result is obtained, all as more fully hereinafter described.

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved crossing, the two railways running at right angles to each other. It willbe obvious, however, to the experienced observer that the angle of crossing is immaterial. Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the corners of the crossing, all the other three corners being of a similar construction. Fig.3 is a central vertical longitudinal section of one of the corners. Fig. 4 is a lateral section, showingthe manner of securing the ends of the rails to the plate. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the center post detached. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the spring detached.

In the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification, A represents the track-railsjof the roads,which cross each other at the point shown in Fig. 1.

H and 1? represent the top and bottom plates of the rail-supports,which rest upon the ties L, and are connected together by the web O,which forms a rib or brace between the top and bot- SerialNo.169,711. (X0 model.)

tom plates, and this web is cut away at the center to furnish room between such plates for the operating parts.

N is a part of a clip,preferablycast integral with and upon the upper face of the rail-supporting plate, and M forms the other part of the clip, and between these parts of the clip the ends of the rails A are slipped and secured by means of bolts a. Thus the ends of the four sections of rail necessary to form one section or arm of the crossing are presented toward each other, as shown in Fig. 2, and their adjacent ends are cut out to form, as nearly as possible, the round hole I), which is coincident with a correspondingly shaped and sized hole 6 5 through the centerof the top plate in the railsupport.

E is a step secured to the inner face, and at the center thereof,of the bottom plate of such rail-support, and in vertical axiallinewith the center hole in the top plate, and between the adjacent ends of the rails, and above described as b.

13 is a round post stepped in the step E,and is ofsufficient length to project upward through 7 5 the top plate, so that its upper end is presented through the opening I) and upon the same plane with the top surface of the rails A. To this post there is secured a toothed segment,

D, which engages with the worm I upon the So shaft G, which is journaled at each end in the bearings E, which are cast upon or otherwise secured to the under face of the top plate of the rail-support. This shaft G extends from one corner of the crossing to the opposite cor- 8 5 nor, as shown in Fig. 1, and near each end is secured a worm, I, to engage with the segment at its respective corner, and as the post B at each of their corners must rotate in opposite directions the worm at one end of the shaft is 3 a right, and at the other end a left hand one. The top of the post B is cut out, as at Q, to allow the passage of the flange of the wheel of the car in passing,while the head of the post fills the space between the adjacent ends of the 5 rails, and in effect forms a continuation of such rails and allows the train to pass without jar or noise more than is created upon any continuous rail. As there are four corners at each crossing the above construction must be (in plicated in order to insure success, and it is necessary that each corner should move simultaneously with the other. I connect each one of the wornrshafts, by means of suitable gears, K, with a shaft, S, the free end of which may terminate at any desired position, and provided with any necessary mechanism by which it can be rotated.

In Fig. 1 the continuous track is shown as running north and south. Now, if a train is approaching on the east and west track, the operator, by a partial rotation of the shaft S, gives aquarter-turn to the rotatingpostsB and puts that track into continuous connection. If desired/the necessary signals'may beso arranged and interlocked that the movement of the shaft S, as described, may at the same time operate the signals as well as the posts.

As the center of the rail supports is cutout, as shown and described, the upper plate may spring downward at the center, where it is unsupported by the web O, in which case there would be a jar by reason of any such downward spring, as-the head of the posts B would project above the plane of the top of rails. To avoid this I interpose between the bottom of the top plate of therail-support and the top of the segment the spring 0, the effect of which is to hold the unstiffened parts from such depressions.

'Of course if there is a sufficient stiffness of metal in this upper plate to withstand the tendency to spring at this point under the weight of the passing train the spring will not be necessary.

Of course there are four rail-supports, stelliform inshape, as shown in Fig. 2, one for each corner of the crossing,and these are bolted together, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the entire crossing is made very rigid.

I am aware that rack-and-pinion gearing has been used in devices of this class for operating the movable portion at the intersection of the rails, and disclaim their use.

I attach importance to the Worm-gearing shown and described, for by its use I am enabled to provide against accidental displacement of the said sectiona result which often accrues from the use of rack and pinion.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In a railway-crossing having a rotating post at each intersection thereof, a railsupport consisting of an upper and under plate and supportingweb between the two, in combination with clips for securing the rails to the upper plate, substantially as set forth.

2. In a railway-crossing constructed substantially as described, and in combination with the rail-support,a spring which will counteract any tendency of such support to deflect under the weight of passing trains, substantially as specified.

3. In a railway-crossing, arail-support consisting of an upper and alower plate and sup porting-web between the two, said web being cut away at the center, and the rotating post carrying a segment operating in the cut-away portion of said web, substantially as described.

EUGENE FONTAINE.

Witnesses:

H. S. SPRAGUE, J AY H. CLARK. 

